Perhaps a new score should be Knights of the Round Table. If this could be done, I would like to participate as a musician. Is the soundtrack on amazon a complete one? Even if it is, there is nothing like a new recording. Again, I don't have the money to do it.

Perhaps a new score should be Knights of the Round Table. If this could be done, I would like to participate as a musician. Is the soundtrack on amazon a complete one? Even if it is, there is nothing like a new recording. Again, I don't have the money to do it.

Vinic, are you a closet teaser?

FSM have released TWO complete performances of KotRT, from the Los Angeles and London recordings. Both are in exquisite sound, as though recorded yesterday, and the LA one is so complete it has every song, experimental spec, even Bob Taylor whistling.

Tadlow's priority is recordings not complete or available.

If, as JF said, he's into Miklos Rozsa, then 'Thief of Baghdad' or 'Double Life' or several others are contenders.

There seems to be an ecclesiastical undercurrent to your choices. I take it you have Rozsa's 'Plymouth Adventure', and of course 'King of Kings'? And his sacred motets?

There have been two Quo Vadis? incarnations since LeRoy's, the 1980s Italian thing with Erich Maria-Brandauer as Nero, Von Sydow as Peter, and one of Anthony Quinn's sons as Vinicius, and the 2000 Polish version with a score by Jan Kaczmarek.

Perhaps a new score should be Knights of the Round Table. If this could be done, I would like to participate as a musician. Is the soundtrack on amazon a complete one? Even if it is, there is nothing like a new recording. Again, I don't have the money to do it.

Vinic, are you a closet teaser?

FSM have released TWO complete performances of KotRT, from the Los Angeles and London recordings. Both are in exquisite sound, as though recorded yesterday, and the LA one is so complete it has every song, experimental spec, even Bob Taylor whistling.

Tadlow's priority is recordings not complete or available.

If, as JF said, he's into Miklos Rozsa, then 'Thief of Baghdad' or 'Double Life' or several others are contenders.

There seems to be an ecclesiastical undercurrent to your choices. I take it you have Rozsa's 'Plymouth Adventure', and of course 'King of Kings'? And his sacred motets?

There have been two Quo Vadis? incarnations since LeRoy's, the 1980s Italian thing with Erich Maria-Brandauer as Nero, Von Sydow as Peter, and one of Anthony Quinn's sons as Vinicius, and the 2000 Polish version with a score by Jan Kaczmarek.

I did not know about the other KotRT recordings.

I was meaning an all new american version of Quo Vadis. I did not know about the Italian one, but I've seen some of the Polish one. The score is nowhere near what it should be for Quo Vadis.

As for an Ecclesiastical undercurrent to my choices, I actually have neither of the recordings you mentioned.

Perhaps a new score should be Knights of the Round Table. If this could be done, I would like to participate as a musician. Is the soundtrack on amazon a complete one? Even if it is, there is nothing like a new recording. Again, I don't have the money to do it.

Vinic, are you a closet teaser?

FSM have released TWO complete performances of KotRT, from the Los Angeles and London recordings. Both are in exquisite sound, as though recorded yesterday, and the LA one is so complete it has every song, experimental spec, even Bob Taylor whistling.

Tadlow's priority is recordings not complete or available.

If, as JF said, he's into Miklos Rozsa, then 'Thief of Baghdad' or 'Double Life' or several others are contenders.

There seems to be an ecclesiastical undercurrent to your choices. I take it you have Rozsa's 'Plymouth Adventure', and of course 'King of Kings'? And his sacred motets?

There have been two Quo Vadis? incarnations since LeRoy's, the 1980s Italian thing with Erich Maria-Brandauer as Nero, Von Sydow as Peter, and one of Anthony Quinn's sons as Vinicius, and the 2000 Polish version with a score by Jan Kaczmarek.

Yes, my choice, were I in JF's shoes (or wallet) would be Thief of Baghdad.

Where do you think it stands in terms of development of Rozsa's 'epic' scores, that is, scores for fantasy/epic films?

And also, now that I've thought of it more, Martin Luther doesn't have a lot of universally appealing music to deserve a soundtrack. Most of the music is simply background music that is secondary to what is happening on the film.

So, never mind Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Sometimes you kick yourself for posting stuff.

Okay, so now that you've abdicated your vote, you can throw in with me in pushing Sodom & Gomorrah.

I thought there was a soundtrack on amazon from it. Is it not complete?

There's a soundtrack in two forms, one mono and the other atrocious stereo with some odd mono bits. Both are entirely unsatisfactory in terms of hearing this magnificent score, as ambitious as Quo Vadis, in anything like the way it should be heard. My argument is that we now have all of Rozsa's historical epic scores in either good sounding originals or better sounding re-recordings, all but S & G, which sounds for the most part like a screeching cat. If ever there was a project for allowing us to hear Rozsa in his best and most mature epic form in pristine sound, this is it.

Yes, my choice, were I in JF's shoes (or wallet) would be Thief of Baghdad.

Where do you think it stands in terms of development of Rozsa's 'epic' scores, that is, scores for fantasy/epic films?

It's a well-regarded and charming score, and reflects a different side of Rozsa's character than the brooding, dramatic Hungarian. He was still under the influence of British and French film composers of the time, so it's in some ways quite unique. There is still, despite the fairytale mythic character of the fantasy, some attempt at 'authenticity', look at the Indian music as Abu enters the temple and crosses the bridge, never actually recorded, theough the Warners DVD has a stand-alone MFX track.

Malcolm Arnold greatly praised the score, though we know he could be temperamental and would say whatever he felt stung the musical 'establishment'. He was also a fan of Alfred Newman, and sometimes made cheeky references to his music, as in the 'Song of Bernadette' theme that becomes a comedy march in 'The Captain's Paradise'.

ToB is still a very dramatic piece though, with lots of Mickey-Mousing, and trademark fourths and fifths. But unlike many fantasy films that get stuck in the lurid, it's a great tale with lots of alchemical symbolism for the rite of passage, and a regard for children, so it brings out the best. It's an adult fable too, as in the 'Silvermaid' seduction and the Svengali abuse of the Princess by Jaffar. Plus the sociological thing then about Jaffar and Adolf. The Maid's Song says it all ... the 'old men' tell about wisdom, but they are also corrupt and lead us into war. And all the great mytrhic stuff about the 'Golden Tent' and the elders and the 'child'. So the MATERIAL is great to start with and MR can rise to the occasion.

Plus, it's a great classic of world cinema, which 'Golden Voyage of Sinbad' is not, (even though that film has still an alchemical undercurrent of symbols and a message about abuse of power (Koura)). 'Good for Tadlow's kudos therefore should they consider it.

James and his Tadlow label is without doubt the leader in new Rozsa recordings now with Intrada demonstrating a past and with Red House, a future to be reckoned with. However Tribute have stated a definite interest in the 'Thief of Bagdad' on a number of occasions though no commitment has been made. Going by their other recordings they could bring off another super sounding gem if they were given a chance. I would be inclined to prefer a Tribute 'Thief' and to leave Tadlow to go onto other titles with 'Sodom and Gomorrah' high on the list. There are still plenty of great Rózsa titles to see the light of day and spending time and money on 'Thief of Bagdad' when Tribute is standing in the shadows would be a shame.

Tribute could certainly pull ToB off: it's their preferred era really, and Rozsa is closer to mainstream in his style with this one, so it'd be great.

The thing with 'Sodom' is that the tapes are in great condition, if you look at the Legend/Titanus 2LP release. It's just that Digitmovies sampled far too loudly or overpushed the amp to clipping level. And Joe Caporiccio says that mono tapes exist somewhere for the unreleased bits like Prologue, Intermission title, etc.. So it's there somewhere.

It's a terrible film though. Only the devotees of Rozsa will take the bait. For some reason I've never been able to explain to myself adequately, I always felt uncomfortable about the use of the liturgical material. In some Jewish traditions this wouldn't be acceptable use of that stuff. With 'King of Kings' and 'Ben-Hur' that material was largely placed in the main leitmotif score, and seemed dramatically suitable. But for such a potboiler?

I'm probably alone in thinking this way. Compare how the Inbal Theatre refused point blank to use such material when asked by Alfred Newman on 'Greatest Story Ever Told'. They said it was inappropriate use. I realise I'm in a minority of one on this, but it's a thought. There'd need to be research on the Idelsohn tunes just to FIND them, let alone translate or reference them in notes. You couldn't sweep them under the carpet, and in many cases Rozsa used them straight on this picture, didn't even 'arrange' them. The Christian liturgical stuff on 'Quo Vadis?' is different: there's no tradition of sacred exclusivity to the texts, nor has there ever been really.

The film buffs here will no doubt laugh at these concerns and think them eccentric, but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty and it's actually DONE, this needs some thought if it's to be a 'classy' release, as is Tadlow's milieu, and some Jewish purists won't like that, I'm sure.